A lot of gamers would say they'd kill for a new installment in the FreeSpace series, and apparently developer Volition would kill to make that dream come true, according to NowGamer. Volition producer Jim Boone tells them: "There is a group of people that would commit murder to do that game. The biggest problem that we have isÖ oh man, that game is so beloved. I did a bunch of missions for both games and itís so dear to my heart I canít even tell you. The problem we had was Freescape [sic] 2 didnít sell as wellÖ" He shares his theory that in the days following QUAKE, more players turned to mouse controls, and fewer owned joysticks, and says he "feels like there's an opportunity" to make a space sim for console controllers, but he has "no data to support that." Thanks nin via Big Download.

Wildone wrote on Feb 11, 2011, 22:56:X Wing Alliance SUCKED, thats why it bombed in sales. Iwar2 was technically awesome but they dropped the ball on some aspects of it. I was a fan of both those franchises and was dissapointed with both. They where just not done to their full potential, doesn't mean people like me would'nt jump at the chance of a well done next gen space combat sim.

I kinda liked XWA but it sure didn't fulfill its potential... It kinda transformed into a shitty X-Wing remake as the campaign progressed. The freighter captain and family stuff was somewhat interesting though.

I would love a new game like that too but nobody seems to be able to make one that doesn't blow. The Eastern Europe guys that keep trying fail utterly everytime. The X games are just pointless space spreadsheets. And the big mods never get polished enough....

X Wing Alliance SUCKED, thats why it bombed in sales. Iwar2 was technically awesome but they dropped the ball on some aspects of it. I was a fan of both those franchises and was dissapointed with both. They where just not done to their full potential, doesn't mean people like me would'nt jump at the chance of a well done next gen space combat sim.

So Iwar2, FS2 and probably X-Wing Alliance too bombed in sales. Maybe Wing Commander Prophecy as well considering that was the end of the line there.

I'm just not sure that I can see today's market getting too excited about this kind of thing. It was never a big console genre. Space shooters are more part of the also-dead simulation genre and this only worked on PC.

There are console space shooters like Colony Wars, the Starfighter series, Rogue Squadron, etc. They tried to make these console friendly but I never got the impression that they caught on in a big way. Factor 5 imploded trying to make the genre work.

I agree with the "start small and let the community contribute" approach, ALA Minecraft. If they took it in that direction, they wouldn't have to commit millions and worry about retail success. Just produce a solid beta client and editor, and sell them. Some people (like me) would just pay for the survival multiplayer. (PVP, I think they call it...) Just start small and add developers as it grows.

Look at what the community did with Freespace 1 and 2 without any involvement from Volition.

sauron wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 12:40:That's how I played it - pad plus keyboard. You could probably do the nonessentials via radial menu on a console - kind of a kludge but it would work ok.

I don't know, much simpler space based games have problems fitting all of their controls into the gamepad, let alone something like Freespace 2. The bottom line is that they can't just load up a radial menu with 30 different things, many of them timing sensitive. That's why you had to play with a pad + keyboard. There would compromises made in order to bring it to consoles, that's inescapable.

I lovd the IWAR series it was HARD to master the combat though, Iwar was cooler than 2 they made you spend WAY too much time in that stupid tug..and after a while I got bored of that. A balance of IWar physics and Xwing Alliance/FS2 would rock..

Verno wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 10:03:I sincerely doubt you played with a gamepad alone, you probably had a gamepad and a keyboard.

That's how I played it - pad plus keyboard. You could probably do the nonessentials via radial menu on a console - kind of a kludge but it would work ok.

My only issue with FS2 was lack of inertia and real physics. That's what made Independence War 2 so amazing.

In IWar/IWar2 you could build up speed to buzz a capital ship, then swing around to bring all weapons systems to bear and broadside it as you went past. No other space sim has managed to integrate physics into the gameplay that way. So fun.

InBlack wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 09:53:I pretty much did play Freespace2 that way recently, (I destroyed my joystick and was forced to) and I have no idea what you are talking about. I mapped most of the keys to my logitech controller which (AFAIK) has the same layout and number of buttons as the Sony one. Also the rumble as I was getting hit was quite satisfiying...:)

Notice I said most, not all. Erm yes the hyperspace button, and the comm buttons I left alone. But these kind of things can be done via a radial menu and would probaly work quite well that way, so the dumbing down would be minimal.

Regardless of what many here think, compared to a real aeroplane sim Freespace is very very simple. And lets be honest here, is the number of buttons really what made this game great in the first place??

The game has literally dozens of keybinds. You can do without some of them(I mean it -does- have some superfluous ones) but not others without impacting the experience. I sincerely doubt you played with a gamepad alone, you probably had a gamepad and a keyboard.

I agree though that the bind count alone doesn't make it a great experience however what made Freespace great was it's depth and removing a lot of that functionality could harm that. That being said I would take any Freespace over no Freespace

Verno wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 08:49:Freespace couldn't be done on the consoles without severely dumbing it down. Anyone who doesn't believe that to be true needs to examine the control key overlay included with the game.

I pretty much did play Freespace2 that way recently, (I destroyed my joystick and was forced to) and I have no idea what you are talking about. I mapped most of the keys to my logitech controller which (AFAIK) has the same layout and number of buttons as the Sony one. Also the rumble as I was getting hit was quite satisfiying...:)

Notice I said most, not all. Erm yes the hyperspace button, and the comm buttons I left alone. But these kind of things can be done via a radial menu and would probaly work quite well that way, so the dumbing down would be minimal.

Regardless of what many here think, compared to a real aeroplane sim Freespace is very very simple. And lets be honest here, is the number of buttons really what made this game great in the first place??

Wildone wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 00:02:Freelancer was gay. Do you see fighter pilots flying around with a mouse and keyboard? Nope.

That makes plenty of sense. Yep none at all.

So anyone else want to raise their hands, and list the number of mice(that would be the ones with a ball in them to you kids) that they killed playing x-wing and tie fighter? I'll guess around 8 for me.

*clack*clack*clack*clack*clack* <--- sound of me jogging the mouse in every direction in order to chase down those pesky TIE-fighters.